Yes, that is Madison from Echo Park, he was staying in our hotel. We stepped into the elevator and I didn't even really look at him just noticed A LOT of women with CHA badges. The lady standing next to him was going OFF that he was Madison (I thought she worked for him, come to find out later from him she didn't!) she was speaking to another lady across the elevator who obviously didn't know about Echo Park paper... Anyway, once she said Madison I really looked at him and said, "Echo Park ROCKS!" he gave me a high 5, and I told him we would be DEFINITELY visiting him later. he remembered! Their booth was really fun--POSITIVE vibes, good candy, and GREAT lines!

Ronda Palazzari, this was the first time I met her and I was SO excited she was there. Funny thing I was in the Bo Bunny booth looking at paper, and look up and she is standing RIGHT next to me! Love her work, such a SWEET person.

Okay this picture just makes me giggle! This is like our 3rd one and we were just laughing and having a GREAT time. I was trying to get my picture taken with Kimber and Summer, out of the corner of my eye I see Jill sneak up. SUPER fun shot!

Okay, So Laura above is part of the CK dream team 6 of the 9 were there I think. I was really excited to meet them. I found Kim Watson, Linda Barber, and Piradee Talvanna, I was a little star struck, they were VERY sweet to me.

Yesterday we met up with Heather Leopard one of our new design team members. It's always fun trying to see if you can match a face with the small one you see on line!

(thanks Lisa for having this picture up already! So I could "borrow"it!)

One last creative thing I wanted to share. if you notice we are standing right in front of the cricut booth. They had their debut album (see below) and they were trying to have people sign up for it. I asked if I could look at it. I "thought" it was the one I had something in.

I looked and almost towards the back I found this:

That's me! I told the guy, I said, "even look at my name tag"--I know not good English but I was pretty excited. He told me I could have it! I could hardly believe it!! :) (My copy will be coming in a few months.) I think that it was my most favorite thing I got at CHA! As I walked away I heard him tell the other man, "that was cool!" Made me feel kinda special. I hadn't realized that my banner would be featured in their premier issue, so cool! Thanks for letting me toot my horn!

One more COOL thing that happened. Well, I thought it was cool and if you were a child of the 70's with brothers who watched this show you will understand. I saw Lou Ferrigno! You know the Incredible Hulk!

Okay, no I didn't get a picture of him. Here is why. we were walking out chatting and I saw these muscle men coming towards us (there were several conventions going on, one was a health and fitness one, and the other had to do with some wrestlers or something....) I made the comment that maybe they were wrestlers. About two feet away I realized I recognized him. Then about my shoulder I knew who he was! I started freaking out saying that was Lou Ferrigno! Unfortunately, they didn't know who he was. He was to far away to run after him. I kicked myself for the next half an hour until I found this picture. He looked JUST like that! My hubby was a little disappointed as well as my boys. (yes, they watch it on Netflix!) Ah, well life goes on! :)

Thanks for sticking with me until the end to recap some of my adventure at CHA! We planned out several kits and they are FILLED with goodness. What's even more fun, we included ALL of the things that each of us REALLY liked. VERY exciting!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Working with the Happy Days kit... :) Yes, this pile is pretty clean for me, but it helps to see what I've got to work with. It is AWESOME by the way, I have already made 5 layouts and have enough to make more.

A little Hershey's magic, oh mint truffle how I love you....I bought these at Christmas time and hoarded them. These are the last that I had....I haven't gone to Walmart to see if there are anymore they are SO yummy!

Oh, do I have a few layouts I want to share with you but I want to wait....because I am off to CHA!! :) Thanks for popping in, and if you see these truffles. Buy them, and think of me! :)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The papers are FABULOUS and the embellishments are SO fun! The new Happy Days kit at Scrapbook Circle is FULL of yumminess.

Isn't this bright yellow delicious?

For this banner I actually used some of the packaging used for the stickers included in the kit. I punched out circles then cut them in half. And you know I HAD to sew! :)

The flowers and heart are also from the packaging (from the tabs.)

The journaling and days of the month are from the download included in the kit. Pretty AWESOME!

Been fighting some tummy trouble for the last couple of days, it's going around here and seems to have decided to visit me for a bit. I'm fine if I'm quiet. So scrapbooking doesn't seem to upset it. :) Been enjoying Sherlock Holmes on netflix while I scrap. The main character is played by Jeremy Brett, he is AMAZING!

Laundry is piled high on my couch and I have to go fix dinner--bummer! :) I sure have been enjoying all the sneaks for CHA.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

I played along with sketchy Thursdays this week--yeehaw that was FUN! I used up some more of my FANTASTIC January kit from Scrapbook Circle. These pictures crack me up. I'm pretty goofy, my daughter is too, but not necessarily in front of other people. I was trying to get her to laugh...yep!

Okay there is a story with the cardstock. I intended it to be something else. I cut it with my cricut but it didn't cut all the way. I saved the paper and decided it made a GREAT background paper with some paint and mist.

I've got to run, have a doggie date at the park and kiddos off the bus! Thanks for stopping in! Hope you have a GREAT day!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Ah, this makes me smile. Wondering how I did the pictures? I went to snapfish, and loaded all of my favorite pictures of this day and made a 8x10 collage, shuffling the pictures until they were just right. I LOVE it! **when I went to design this page I cut about 1/8" off the edges so they would be even.** Then I added some WONDERFUL studio calico paper that has been in my stash, even a button from American crafts. the title is from felt Making Memories letters I bought on clearance at Michaels' this past week. Easy, quick, and fun!

Cute punched butterflies using my borrowed close to my heart punch:

Alright for this one I used my circle punch, an American Craft button (the blue and yellow hounds tooth....) then I cut the circles from the paper.

Schools back in session, back to the schedule, DARN! :) We had a great day yesterday with absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather! I've got chicken in the crock pot today, easy meal. Frozen chicken, onion soup mix and some carrots. I think I'm going to microwave some potatoes and warm some frozen peas for dinner.....Thanks for popping in! Hope you have a GREAT day! :)

Monday, January 17, 2011

So Saturday was VERY productive in the Scrappy department. I finished 3 layouts!! I had a blast working with this sketch from sketchy Thursdays and the Cosmo Cricket paper. Besides using the sketch you had to: use a heart, use red or pink, and journal. Easy!

here are the hearts that I used closeup, excuse the glue this little puppy kept skidding away from me it was hard to get a hold of! :)

If you have been following me very long, you know that I have been trying to use up things in my stash. This leather frame I bought at big lots a LONG time ago, it's been sitting on my desk. It was red, I used it! I put pop dots on the back of this sticker so that not only is it sticking to the frame but also the paper underneath.

Another cool idea that came about was the tulle. There is a red side and black side to the design that I covered. I didn't want to go ALL black or red. So I pulled out my tool and wrapped it around the sheet of paper and sewed it down. I like that it cut the color AND gave me some black too.

I cut these flowers out of a piece of the patterned paper AND I used my circle punch to get the black outlined one cut just right. Yep, I felt productive and creative at the same time!

We REALLY liked Despicable Me or as my youngest would call it "Despicdable me" :) There were parts for everyone to laugh at.

Well, I'm off for a bike ride with the kiddos! Thanks for dropping in! And I hope that you have a WONDERFUL day!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Never! Okay so this was the sketch last week forSketchy Thursdays, I finished it Wednesday night--I didn't have good light, I wasn't feeling that great--I went to bed. But Thursday I took a picture, yesterday I cropped it and today I'm posting it! I really liked this sketch, simple to follow.

I busted out the remains of several past Scrapbook Circle kits for this one. Crate paper--I LOVE you! :) Yes, the heart felt flower is from like ages past....

This fun little flower I bought on clearance at Michael's, I'm proud of the fact that I actually used it in the same week that I bought it! The journaling was done on the inside packaging of the flower. The paper itself is pretty cool as it has polka dots on it.

funny thing about this title. I asked everyone for help, I wanted to something short sweet and to the point. I got several suggestions, I finally settled on this:

Yes, I know how to spell! This is more fun! :)

Today is filled with stuff, "hopefully" I will get what I want to done! AND get some scrappy time too! Ohhh, if you haven't seen, the sneak is up of the February Scrapbook Circle kit, it's yummy! You can see it HERE. I have it in my hot hands and can't wait to dig into it!

If you notice there is a W underneath the title--perfect for my last name! :)

I even got to use my homemade gathered ribbon that has been sitting in a bag for months!

Today was a quiet day at the house I finished my bookI am Number 4. Wow!! it grips you and sucks your right in, it's quite exciting. **warning there was some language, to me it seemed a little forced like an after thought. Thankfully no F bomb. It wasn't every other word, but I'm just warning you just in case....** They made a movie that will be out in March. I'm SO excited to see it now!

Speaking of movies, DH and I went to go see True Grit. It's a good one! I liked it a lot. There were parts where I was covering my eyes, and saying, "oohh!" I was laughing at other parts. The girl TOTALLY steals the show--she was AMAZING!

We watched Inception the other night--it was WEIRD. If you like weird well...watch it! :) let me see....Despicable Me is sitting on the table and the kids are ANXIOUS to watch it. We have to wait for tomorrow as my girl has mutual tonight. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE netflix--it's awesome! My boys are watching A-team as I type. And I've been scrapping and watching Sherlock Holmes. Fun!

Anyway, I should be fixing dinner right now! Hope you have a fantastic day! Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

yes, this snow makes me cold. It's 63 degree here today, I'll take it! This is a visit a couple of years ago to the snow, we were in Utah for a wedding. We stayed with one of my mission companions and we had such a GREAT time. These pictures were all SO random but I wanted them all on one layout. Just love how it all came together...

the background paper and mist were from my stash but everything else is from the January Scrapbook Circle kit. LOVED it!!

The star edges you see peeking out are from the sticker pack included in the kit. they said love and something else I don't remember I just wanted to use them for their edges. So I just snipped them in half and tucked them under this little border thing.

I have to share this TOTALLY unrelated scrapbook thing. In December we went to the BEST wedding reception I have ever been to! SO MUCH fun, the boys wanted to go back!! Anyway, their reception pictures were featured on Green Wedding Shoes. SO fun! Just makes me smile just thinking about it!! Everything looked so amazing because it was at night....

Monday, January 10, 2011

I look at these pictures and they just make me smile! In December we had our first ever family shoot that wasn't a tripod or Kmart shoot. I know...that's just sad! I wanted some fun shots, the photographer started taking pictures of the kids feet. I told them to make their feet smile my youngest DS (feet pictured to the right of the picture did!) He is our clown constantly making us laugh.

I used a super secret sketch from Sketchy Thursdays, their first on Facebook. It came together SO quickly, I used the January kit from Scrapbook Circle to finish it. (sorry, I was going to link it here but it's SOLD OUT!) I LOVED this paper!! The teal paper was actually from my stash and it's SEI, I've had it for almost a year and was so excited to use something from my stash!

Today has been a quiet one. The afore mentioned boy stayed home from school with a headache, I haven't been feeling well so we napped, read, and he is now watching Godzilla cartoons--I had NO idea that there was such a thing. I watched Godzilla growing up with my brothers, we tried that first but he didn't like the fact that we had to watch subtitles. I need to find him one that is dubbed over, pretty funny to watch their mouths moving 5x faster than the speaking....

OH, I wanted to share some exciting news. I can't believe I haven't done so before! I had a layout in the November 2010 issue of Scrapbook Trends! AND I have a creation in the upcoming March 2011 issue of the Cricut magazine. AND! One of my layouts was just chosen for the June 2011 issue of Scrapbook Trends! TOOT!! TOOT!!

Well, I best be on my way. Thanks for stopping in and paying a visit! :)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

I have to admit I TOTALLY lifted this idea from the January Creating keepsakes issue 45 minute section. I LOVED it though, the papers were perfect from theLove is all you Need --January kit from Scrapbook Circle.

Okay these little jobbies from American crafts are AWESOME! I loved using them, the button is from the December kit and the brad was something I had lying on my desk....

This has been a fantastically relaxing Sunday. I got a sort of nap and my boys are catching up on their recorded Monster Jam (s), thankfully I don't have to watch today....

Friday, January 7, 2011

I am recharged, rejuvenated, I got a nap yesterday! yipee!! I don't always do that but I just couldn't focus... Here is the layout I promised yesterday:

I was TOTALLY inspired by a layout I saw somewhere. I just knew it would go perfect with these pictures I took with my cellphone. I have the Polaroid app on my droid (it's in the FX camera) and just love to take pictures with it. Anyway, I had fun with the machine stitching and hand stitching on this one. Just SO artsy--LOVE to get messy. One thing that I don't think you can see is that this paint has sparkles in it--it's stunning in person.

I need to hustle my bustle, I've got to go to the gym this morning. Right after I go help with reading groups, and right after that I get to go on a walking field trip with my boys class. We are going to McDonald's for an ice cream treat for those kids that made their AR reading goal. Makes me a little tired just talking about it! :) Thanks for stopping in--hope that your Friday is a GREAT one! :)